ABS Printing with Makerbot

I am completely new to the world of 3d printing as it exists today. I used to be a plastics product designer for all sorts of products. But in those days... we spent thousands for SLA models. That was the only way to get some kind of part to see, touch, and feel.

Now... I am designing product for myself at home. They will ultimately end up machined aluminum parts, so I want to print using ABS for the strength. I just ordered a Makerbot Desktop and a Makerbot Mini. i ordered only ABS material. Is there anything I should know up front so I don't waste too much time printing crap?

A little off topic... probably better for an existing post. Holy crap are there allot of 3d printers out there. Every time I thought I had one picked out... I'd read allot of bad reviews. The Makerbot had plenty of them too. I just had to say f it... pick one and go with it. Should I have picked a b better brand? I didn't pay retail on either unit which helped. The mini is brand new in the box and I only paid $399. The Desktop only cost me $1200 brand new in the box. So price wise... positive and negative reviews, I felt ok with the selection. Hope I was right. Sounds like allot of 3d printers do better with PLA. I will probably be doing mostly ABS for my needs.

You will be surprised how much easier PLA is and though not as tough it is not far from being as strong as ABS.

Interesting... wish I had researched that better. I bought 10 xl rolls of abs. I'll get some pla as well and give it a try.

ABS has its advantages but the majority of people don't actually need the advantages. PLA is a really easy plastic to print with and gives great results. Also its non-toxic so safe too.

If you need any more information about what filament to buy then please either check out our website www.3dexfilament.co.uk or you can email us at support@3dexfilament.com

We are always happy to help fellow printers!

I'm not worried about using the ABS. I really do need the extra strength it will give me. That being said... I want to try the PLA too.
I'm developing a pretty complex product that will eventually be mostly machined aluminum. I need to have a working product tested though before hitting that road. To expensive to do R&D on machined aluminum.

I will definitely check out your website before purchasing more filament.

well, coming back to your original question : ABS is a high shrink ratio material. This means you have a higher probability of warp.

Warp puts stress on the contact surface with the bed and may create issues with adhesion to the bed : to be taken care of.

To fight this, try to enclose your printer and ensure a warm homogenous temperature. Therefore, it is generally recommended to have a heated bed and to let it all heat evenly for 10 mins before hitting print.

10 xl spools was a significant commitment to one type of material. ABS can be tricking to print with, as @LambdaFF points out. It is very prone to warping which means that you will need to get on top of your printing environment before you will be getting any functional 3D prints.

The Makerbot is a ABS specialist though which is an advantage. And, depending on your makerbot model, you are probably better off creating an enclosure out of polycarbonate or some such plastic sheeting. The difficulties you encounter with ABS will be, to a large extent, dependent upon the size of the model, larger models are more prone to warping at the corners.

Petg may also be a suitable filament, we have always found it easier to print with than ABS but it is also strong.

But you have a lot of ABS so you should use that. There are different types of bed adhesive you can use that improve bed adhesion and so reduce warping, PVA, glue stick, PEI build plate, branded build plates and adhesives. Basically you will have to experiment to see what set up consistently produces good quality prints.

just out of curiosity which makerbot did you get ?

The current 5th generation DO NOT have heated printbeds - and that is one thing that is essential for printing abs.
2nd gen - you should be okay.

Basically what everybody else said - abs is a pita.
It stinks, you use a lot of acetone, which also stinks, it warps like a bastard.
Because the print bed needs to be real hot it takes longer to start a print and the calibration on the bed goes out of whack much more frequently.

After about 18 months of printing pla and other non-abs plastics I recently tried abs again - and that will be the last time :-)
Strength wise, pla is as strong, more rigid and not as bendy. That said you can get pla that is stronger in every aspect than abs and does not warp at all.
It's not cheap - but worth the money if you need super strong and super tough plasti that also doesn't smell or warp and very easy to print with.
http://www.polymaker.com/shop/polymax/

Like you I read and believed the hype about pla, so when I bought my first printer, I too bought a lot of abs.
I fought it for about 6 months, till I saw just about all the printers using pla at the tct show in 2014. Tried pla and was astonished at just how much crap there is talked about it. And how wrong most of the prevailing opinion is.

My pla parts have been more durable than the same parts I've made in abs. It's a real pleasure to print with, and it does not stink up my workshop.
And there are so many different types of pla based filament - that you can find just about any characteristic you want in a pla based plastic.

So yep, bulk buying abs is a rookie mistake - made it myself :-)

Try it for a bit and then get some decent pla and move on :-)

ABS shines when you want to machine the part afterwards. The low melting point of PLA makes it very difficult to machine as it melts too easily.

Having said that PLA is machinable, just takes more care and longer to work because you have to keep the temperature low.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hootie

I am completely new to the world of 3d printing as it exists today. I used to be a plastics product designer for all sorts of products. But in those days... we spent thousands for SLA models. That was the only way to get some kind of part to see, touch, and feel.

Now... I am designing product for myself at home. They will ultimately end up machined aluminum parts, so I want to print using ABS for the strength. I just ordered a Makerbot Desktop and a Makerbot Mini. i ordered only ABS material. Is there anything I should know up front so I don't waste too much time printing crap?

---

I know there's a lot of trepidation in some of the 3D printing community about using ABS. Some of those concerns, especially about emissions, have yet to be hashed out completely but may turn into real concerns. The concerns about it's printability always seems to be blown out of proportion.

If you learn how to design keeping the characteristics of the material you are using (this part took me the longest time to learn, and I'm still learning) in mind, and you use the correct tool (printer) for the job and get that tool dialed in, you will not have a problem.

For my design/use; ABS is superior to standard PLA in almost every way. I find myself always coming back to ABS. So I did the same exact thing you did, and I'm so glad I did, I love ABS, and it's very cheap to boot. :o

I think your only possible mistake was in purchasing from Makerbot. :p

I print exclusively with ABS on my makerbot clone, here's what I've learned:

1) Trap as much east into your chamber as possible--cover any holes that aren't necessary. Heat your plate to 90-100C

2) Use a glass plate with hairspray (aquanet extra hold). Other methods I tried either don't hold well enough, or hold too well and make it hard to remove. Hairspray holds like hell when it's warm but the part removes itself as it cools, best of both worlds.

3) Scale your objects to 102% to account for shrinkage

4) Ideally you want your internal chamber temperature at 50C, much cooler than that you will have warping and splitting problems on large parts, any warmer and you may put too much heat stress on your electronics and motors. I ultimately solved this problem by hooking up a low-power hair dryer to blow into the side of my print chamber (with a deflector so it doesn't blow directly on the print bed)--I then hook the hair dryer to a temperature controller that keeps the chamber at a perfect 50C at all times.

Temp controller: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...50EK6NNRFWYB0B

ABS is commonly thought to be stronger than PLA. This is inconsistent with the results Thomas Sanladerer published here and my personal experience. ABS has one basic advantage in that the surface finish is fa more consistent than with PLA. Yes, it does warp if you fail to anchor it well to your bed and print at an insufficiently high temperature. You will need a heated bed at 110C, some ABS juice, nice high temps on your hot end and enough geometry to keep your part anchored to the bed. No enclosure needed or other crazy stuff. You can check out one of my prints here printed in ABS. I have printed much bigger stuff than that, without warping or delamination.

For the strongest material that's really easy to print, go for PETG. That stuff can take more of a battering than ABS or PLA by a huge margin. It's as easy as PLA to print, and can be machined quite easily. Were it not for the fact that I can buy ABS for a third or less than PETG, I would dump all my existing stock of PLA and ABS and switch over to PETG only. It has every advantage without any disadvantage of either PLA or ABS.

the only petg I've tried so far from colorfabb - stunk up my workshop worse than abs.
Yes it did what i wanted it to and it was better than pla for the job. But by god the fumes were awful !

Quote:

---

ABS has one basic advantage in that the surface finish is fa more consistent than with PLA.

---

Seriously ? That's pretty much the opposite of my experience. But then there are hundreds of different types of pla - so could just be a material difference.